Eli's Vampire Plague
by Waterstar230
Summary: When Eli is bitten by a ghouled Fandango slug, he begins to feel and act strangely. And when a Robber tries to steal from the Shane Hideout, Eli switches from a beloved hero to a blood-sucking monster. When their leader threatens to turn Slug Terra into his own kingdom of Vampires, can the Shane gang find a way to save him and their home? No characters belong to me, all NerdCorp
1. Prologue

It was just a regular mission of stopping Blakk from conquering another cavern. Another battle between the Shane gang and a bunch of Blakk's soldiers. And with the end of the battle was another victory for the Shane gang.

Of course, this time the soldiers just went and left their ghouls behind to form a pack somewhere. Something the Shane gang couldn't afford, according to Eli.

Ever since the recent events with the Shadow Clan, Eli was worried that if the ghouls were given a chance to grow in numbers, it might weaken the magic of Slug Terra even farther than before.

So even if they didn't have Doc anymore, Eli had the gang set to round up and capture any ghouls they found to bring to the Shadow Clan. Maybe then, Doc could cure them_._

The Boon Doc slug named Doc surely had come a long way from where he was before with a boy named Billy of the Hooligang. Once thought to be useless because he couldn't "explode" or "blow things up", Doc now served a purpose even greater than Billy could even imagine: He was a Guardian Slug, serving to protect Slug Terra from the evil forces of the Dark Bane.

Having to be with the Shadow Clan most of the time now, Eli missed him. He often wished Doc could come by the headquarters to visit or to just say a simple "Hi". The Shane gang sure needed him right now. These ghouls were giving them trouble; they hissed, tried to bite, and growled every time one of the gang got near them.

The slugs made it easier to round them up since they were about the same size as they were, but the little demons just wouldn't stop to cooperate.

One ghoul seemed to be smart enough to get away without anyone noticing. But Eli saw it before it got too far and chased after it.

It looked like it was really trying to get away, but Eli managed to catch up to it before it slipped into a hole.

Luckily, the hole proved to be a dead-end and Eli had it cornered.

"Alright, little guy," Eli called to the ghoul, "Come on out!"

Eli got a good look at the little monster as it threatened to hurt him with a low growl. It looked to be a black-and-red Fandango slug with eyes as red as Dark Water and long, sharp fangs. It kinda looked like a tiny slug vampire to Eli. It was almost cute. Too bad he didn't have a camera or something to remember this moment before he took it to be cured.

"It's okay," Eli reassured it as he carefully reached his left hand out to grab it, "I'm not going to hurt you."

Just as Eli thought he was going to get it, the ghoul jumped on him and bit him on the forearm.

"OUCH!" Eli yelped and held his arm against his body while the ghoul hopped away happily.

"ELI!" Eli heard Trixie calling him from behind and turned to face her and the others, "What happened? We heard a shout."

"I was trying to catch a ghoul that tried to get away," Eli explained, "But it jumped on me and bit my arm."

"That bite looks pretty nasty, Bro," Kord pointed out, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Eli reassured him.

"You shouldn't do something like that, Eli!" Trixie scolded him as she pulled out a bandage to wrap around the bite wound, "It could've turned out much worse than this."

"Yeah," Eli agreed, "I know. Sorry, Trix."

"Well," Pronto put in, "How about we just forget about all of this and just deliver these little beasts to the Shadow Clan, shall we?"

"Actually, Pronto," Eli said holding his head, "You guys go ahead and do that. I suddenly don't feel so good. I think I'm going home for the day."

"You sure you don't need someone to go with you, Eli?" Kord asked him, worried.

"If one of you wants to come with me, it's fine," Eli told his gang. Everyone looked at each other and back at Eli before they went to get on the Mecha beasts.

After that, the gang split up; Pronto and Eli heading home, Trixie and Kord set to make the delivery of ghouls to Shadow Clan territory.

On the slow ride home, Burpy began to sense that something wasn't right with his slinger. Something began to feel...off about him. Something inside of him was...changing, becoming...dark and scary...almost terrifying. Burpy didn't like this feeling he was getting off of the slinger he trusted the most. He began to look at Eli worriedly as Eli began to show signs of having a headache.

Shortly after the bite was made, Eli began to feel light-headed and strange. He felt something-a second nature, perhaps-begin to stir within his being. It was almost as if a darker side of him was beginning to awaken. A darker side Slug Terra would not soon forget.


	2. Chapter 1

It had been a week since the bite from that "Dracule" ghoul slug, as Eli wanted to call it, and Eli was acting stranger than he normally would. He would normally be strange by not knowing some of the regular stuff of Slug Terra, though it was already confirmed that he wasn't from Slug Terra, but from a different world above that he called the Surface. Now, he was acting even stranger.

For starters, he started to sleep in much later in the day than regular. Instead of getting up when the alarm went off at 6 a.m. or going back to bed until 6:30, he would ignore it and go right back to sleep until noon. And even when he was up and about, he wouldn't go outside to train with the others in the light of the Lumino Ore crystals. The only time he would come out would be when the Lumino Ore crystals were beginning to dim, signaling the time for night.

Then, he said he started to experience an intense thirst for...something. He would drink water, but it wasn't satisfactory to him. In fact, he would say it tasted sour to him, like salt water. He tried soda, but it didn't work either. He started to shy away from herbs like garlic and wheat grass and went into a trance whenever Pronto was cooking an insect dish.

What surprised everyone was that he actually started to enjoy the food Pronto cooked, asking for seconds or even thirds sometimes. Even the proud Pronto couldn't believe Eli could get a handle on his cooking so suddenly. It was starting to scare him.

The strangest part of all was that Eli would AVOID going on slug hunts or missions to stop Dr. Blakk, saying he still felt weak from the incident with the Dracule ghoul.

The longer periods of sleep and the appetite could go by the Shane gang, but the Eli Shane known to his friends would NEVER try to come up with excuses to miss out on a mission. His friends just couldn't believe his sudden change in behavior.

And if his new attitude wasn't enough, the gang began to notice a strange change in Eli's physical appearance. For instance, Eli's skin was looking paler each day, almost turning to white as a ghost compared to his normal and healthier complexion. Plus, he was looking weak, even with all the meals he ate from Pronto's cooking. He looked frail and tired every day, like he had been zapped of his strength. It was sad to see him so...so...fragile.

Whatever that ghoul did to Eli, it was getting worse with each passing day.

"Are you sure you don't want us to stay, Bro?" Kord asked his leader in worry.

"I'm sure, Kord," Eli told him with Burpy on his right soldier, "Someone has to be out there to stop Dr. Blakk."

"Yeah," Trixie implemented, "And that SOMEONE should be you. YOU'RE the Shane!"

Eli dropped his head in shame, knowing Trixie to be right. He WAS the Shane of Slug Terra now. In his father's absence, it was HIS job to protect Slug Terra with his friends. But he had been feeling so bad lately, he just didn't have the strength to go. He would feel better about going out at night when the Lumino Ore crystals were dim and all was dark, but Blakk hardly attacked at night. He hated to send his friends into danger without him, but he felt like he was vulnerable during the daytime. And Dr. Blakk HAD to be stopped somehow, so the Shane gang has been going mostly without him.

"Look, Eli," Trixie admitted, "I'm sorry that you're feeling bad since the incident with that Dracule, but you have to come out to face Dr. Blakk and his men some time. People are starting to talk about you. They're calling you a coward; a wimp. We both know that's not true, but you have to prove that to them yourself. You can't stay in the hideout forever."

"I know, Trixie," Eli told her, "Believe me, if I could get better, I would go with you to give Dr. Blakk a run for his ghouls. But I just haven't been feeling like myself. I'm sorry."

Trixie and the others looked at Eli worriedly as they went to head out the door.

"Well, I guess we're leaving now. Again." Trixie said disappointingly.

"Okay," Eli shared in her disappointment, "Be careful!"

"Pronto made sure to give you some protection in case someone were to come in and hurt you," Pronto said in pride, pointing to the sharp knife on the table. Eli knew it wouldn't be needed, but he kept his quiet to give Pronto the comfort of knowing that Eli appreciated his devotion to his safety while he was stuck inside the hideout.

As Eli watched his friends ride off on their mecha beasts, Burpy and the slugs who had to stay and keep him company looked at him in sadness. Eli didn't like being sick. He didn't really seem very ill to his slugs. He seemed fit as a fiddle despite his newly pale skin and darkening skin under his eyes. Though there was still a negative aura looming around him that the slugs didn't like. Burpy felt this aura for the past week Eli was sick. It almost felt the same compared to one of Dr. Blakk's ghoul slugs, but that couldn't be, could it? A ghoul couldn't corrupt the essence of a human as pure and good as Eli Shane. Right?

Eli sighed and took to lay on the couch next to his slugs. His frown was the biggest Burpy had ever seen it. He was so depressed about the whole situation. It was clear he wanted to be out there with his friends, but something inside of him was telling him he couldn't and that frustrated him.

Eli felt his thoughts change and morph around him as he laid on that couch. It was like two very different people were fighting inside his brain, telling him what to do. His heart wanted to follow his friends into the glory of battle against the evil and vile Dr. Blakk, but something in his brain told him it was too dangerous to go outside in crystalline daylight. What was wrong with him? Daylight never bothered him before. As a matter of fact, he used to love being outside in the daylight. Back on the Surface, he would spend time in the city's park with his neighbor's dog and play fetch with him every time his owner was busy with something from work. He used to love the warmth and radiance from the Sun wrapping around him like a blanket. Since he'd been in Slug Terra, the Lumino Crystals that glowed with light proved just as well to be the form of Sunlight for Slug Terra. How was it that now it was threatening to destroy him the moment he stepped outside?

Eli closed his eyes for a moment and thought he heard a rustle of leaves outside. He quickly got up and grabbed his blaster.

The slugs heard the rustle too. Fearing it to be a robber, Joules jumped up and flipped the lights off to hide Eli for a better chance of catching whoever it was before they had a chance to strike his friend down.

Eli and the slugs hid in the darkness of the room, behind the very couch they were laying on in peace a few minutes earlier as the door to the garage opened up slightly to reveal a skinny white man with a black shirt, yellow vest, and black pairs of jeans, gloves, and boots.

He couldn't believe he was doing this. It was just a stupid dare; a ridiculous joke to get him to do something crazy for a laugh. How could he have accepted it? He was dared to steal something from the Shane Gang! He was dared to steal something from inside their house (garage not included). The Shane Gang were sure to have him pounded with their powerful slugs and arrested for trespassing. Even with the leader being sick lately, it was sure to be a fool's errand.

Word of Eli Shane failing to battle with Dr. Blakk spread fast around all of Slug Terra. After all, who ever heard of a Shane getting sick? Sure it sounded like it would be slightly easier, but the Shane gang were all supposed to be tough, even without Eli to lead them. Hearing of the conditions to the boy's illness made the man feel sorry for him. To not be able to fight evil must've been hard for the boy. He could only imagine how Eli must've felt.

Getting up early to get the dare over with, the man went straight for the Shane hideout and hid himself and his mecha beast in the bushes near the clubhouse of a hideout. Once he knew the majority of the Shane gang were away, he snuck out of the bushes and into the garage. He got his blaster out and ready for Eli Shane. Even if he was sick, he was still a Shane.

The man slowly opened to door to the living room and walked in as quietly as he could. The room was dark all around. The Shane leader must've been asleep on the couch. The man had to be as quiet as possible, or else either he or the Shane slugs would awaken Eli to duel. And if this kid was as good as they said he was, the man was in trouble.

The man slinked as quietly through the room, blaster loaded and at the ready. It was so dark in the room, so the man had to squint his eyes to find anything that would satisfy his friends. He didn't even know what to grab.

'It has to be something of value,' they said, 'Something that everyone would know you could only get from the Shane hideout.'

_What would that have to be?_ the man wondered. The Shane gang hardly had anything that was bound to be unique that they wouldn't need. Just because the man had to take something from their hideout didn't mean he wanted to take anything they might've needed in the future. He wanted the Shane gang to take down Dr. Blakk. So he agreed with himself to take something valuable that they weren't going to miss. Easier said than done.

The man looked around the room for anything to grab. He looked to the computer in the room to find a bunch of memory cards. Perfect. He could take those and it would be more than enough. The memory cards all had to have been worth 20 gold together. Plus, having bound to be footage on it of the Shane gang, it had sheer proof it belonged to them. The man grabbed his bag and poured in the memory cards when the room was suddenly lit and he turned to find Eli Shane pointing his blaster straight at him with his slugs growling and glaring.

Eli looked at the skinny robber who was stealing Trixie's new memory cards. Why would he steal those? They haven't had anything recorded on them yet. Trixie bought them from the mall earlier that week to record more Slugisodes. How she managed to get so many was because they were on sale. What would this robber ever want with them?

"Who are you?!" Eli demanded with Burpy in his blaster, "What are you doing here?!"

The robber stared at Eli. The boy seemed completely fine, besides the sickly look on him. The robber then figured that maybe he felt sicker than he looked, but even so, how was he able to stand up like he was against him like he was. Was it some sort of plan to trick Dr. Blakk into a false sense of security?

"I just asked you..." Eli repeated, losing his patience, "WHO. ARE. YOU?!"

The robber, slugs, and even Eli nearly jumped out in shock. Eli was usually patient and calm. He was never so easy to lose his temper like he did with this robber. And Eli was hardly the one to yell at just anyone. Both he and the robber thought it to be the illness inflicted upon the Shane.

Despite the sudden shout that escaped his own mouth, Eli continued to point his blaster at the intruder.

"L-Listen, Mr. Shane, sir," the robber said as he backed onto the table, "I-I don't want any trouble."

As the robber tried to back away and make a quick exit, he explained everything, revealing all that his friends dared him to do: "M-My friends at the bar dared me to steal something from your hideout. I was just going for something that wouldn't be missed. I-I..."

While trying to get away, the robber accidently cut his hand on the knife Pronto left behind for Eli to use. The robber winced in pain and pulled his hand away from the knife. When he looked at it, he saw that the blade made a small cut along the tip of fingers. _Damn it!_ the robber thought to himself as he kissed the cuts.

Eli and his slugs were taken back in alarmed when they saw what happened.

"Burpy," Eli commanded, "Help the man to the couch! I'll get the first aid kit!"

As Burpy did what he was told, the robber's slugs helped their master to the couch for a seat. Together, both the robber's and Eli's slugs comforted the robber as he kept kissing his small wound.

Eli came later to bring a small, white box with a red cross on the front. He opened the box to bring out some medicine and bandages, when he started catching a whiff of something that sent him into a trance. The smell was from something sweet, something...intoxicating to him. He thought of the sweet thing he'd been craving and wondered if whatever this smell was coming from, that maybe THIS was it. Something inside him told him to search for the source and he obeyed.

Burpy and the slugs noticed a strong, dark energy nearby and looked upon the Shane as he suddenly stood and sniffed around the couch. The robber didn't notice the boy while he kept holding onto his bleeding hand, but Eli was sniffing around the whole of the couch, searching for the source of this attractive and dark craving that never caught him so off guard before. He became like a hungry animal, hunting for his prey endlessly in vain, for he knew the source was right in front of him and he wanted to deny it.

The strength of the smell was strongest around the robber's hand. Eli could feel it. But how could he crave for flesh unless he was a zombie...or perhaps something much worse. Eli kept searching for anything else that the smell could be coming from. He searched below the couch, he searched above and around the man's head, but nowhere did this tempting aroma come than from the blood on the robber's hand. When he finally admitted to himself that he was craving for the robber's life essence, Eli felt something dark and sinister rise up from his throat and he bent against himself in pain.

He felt something happening; his lustful craving sparked the awakening of something that Eli didn't like, not in the least. It was something that Eli wanted to betray; something he wanted to keep inside and protect the robber from, but the beastly essence fought with a strength that was greater than his. It wanted to hurt the man sitting in front of him; it wanted his blood for its meal, but Eli was denying it of that.

Eli noticed his front teeth had started to hurt. He checked what it was and withdrew his hand from his mouth in shock. He tried to look in a nearby mirror and gasped as his reflection was fading from him in front of his eyes. But that wasn't what scared him. What scared him was the sudden growth and sharpness of his two front canines and the red irises that replaced his beautiful blue ones. With the pale skin, Eli looked like a monster that he knew was the most dangerous and profoundly the most deadly: The dreaded Vampire.

Eli backed up against the couch in shock, finally earning the attention of the robber as he looked upon the back of the panicking boy.

"W-What's wrong?!" the robber asked him.

"You need to get out!" Eli said without turning to face the man, "You need to get out of here RIGHT NOW! And get as far away from this place as possible."

"W-Why?!"

"JUST GO NOW! YOU'RE NOT SAFE HERE! PLEASE LEAVE! NOW!"

As the robber and his slugs went to do as Eli demanded, the darkness inside of him fought like a raving animal, wanting to be fed. Eli fought back as best as he could, but he knew it was useless. This entity was far stronger than he was. He was no match for it.

As if on cue, Spinner spun a web net around his slinger, trying to keep him contained.

It was no use. No matter what anyone did, Eli could only feel the monster inside of him take complete control and then everything turned red.

The robber screamed as the beast known as Eli tackled and pinned him to the ground before he could reach the door. Flaring his white fangs and his red eyes, Eli looked at his prize with a starving look. The robber groveled underneath the boy's weight.

All the slugs wanted to stop Eli before he did anything he'd regret, but the evil in Eli's eyes was enough to keep them at bay. Even Banger and Burpy shriveled back in fear of him.

Eli looked at his meal one more time as the man begged for his life.

"P-Please! L-Let me go!"

The monster gave his victim a gloating smile and bent his face towards the robber's.

"But then you'll miss dinner," the boy monster spoke in a smooth tone, "And I'd HATE it if you didn't come."

Then with one sharp bite to the neck, it was all over. The robber fainted as Eli drank the sweet fluids from his bite. It WAS the thing he'd been craving for days since the incident, and Eli instantly became addicted. He loved every drop that slid down his throat. And while he was drinking, he's noticed a bit of his strength had returned to him. He was suddenly feeling like his old self again...well, almost. His old self didn't need to drink the blood of innocent robbers in order to feel the way he did. In fact, he felt even stronger than before. He felt like he could take Kord on in an arm wrestle match even. He didn't care, he just wanted to taste the sweetness of the blood as it ran passed his lips.

When he had finally had his fill, Eli stood and smiled a dark smile. He laughed maniacally and enough to be heard for miles. The beast had won. It had gotten what it wanted and now it was free within the hero. But now what? The beast knew it's grip on Eli wouldn't last unless he got to feed on more souls like the robber's. That's when it dawned on him. The beast could USE the hero's skin to freely feed upon all those the hero would capture. Any minion of Blakk could instantly become his meal with one bite. Plus, it would weaken Blakk's grip on Slug Terra, killing two birds with one stone. But then what? If he were ever discovered, he would be sentenced to death for acts of murder. _Oh well,_ Eli thought to himself as he figured he would cross that bridge upon when it came upon him. Right now, he had to clean up the leftovers before his friends returned with news on their battle with Dr. Blakk.

Eli looked at the slugs as he got rid of the body and wiped up the blood that slipped from his lips and onto the floor. They seemed scared; terrified even. _Good,_ Eli thought, _I need them to keep quiet about this until further notice._

As Eli approached them, Burpy glared at the monster that was his friend and cowered with his fellow slugs. Slug Terra was in for a HORRID turn of events.


	3. Chapter 2

When the Shane gang got back from their latest mission, they were greeted by a healthier-looking Eli Shane. It seemed like the illness that he was inflicted with had just vanished into thin air and the Eli they knew was going to be just fine.

It was until later when they began to realize that Eli was not alright in the least.

It started when they noticed that Eli's slugs were no where to be found once they got back that same day. Kord had asked where they had gone and Eli had told his team that his slugs started playing hide-and-seek before they got back, but Eli had given up on it and decided to wait on his team's return and said that the slugs were most likely in his room.

Then Pronto noticed a smell of blood and that the knife was gone. When he asked what had happened to the knife he had left for his leader, Eli stated that he put it away after one of the slugs accidently knocked it off the table. When Pronto asked about the smell of blood in the air, Eli said that it was because one of the slugs cut themselves. Then when Trixie asked if the slug was alright, Eli said he had taken care of it before the team arrived. He seemed alright with his answer until Kord brought up the game of hide-and-seek, then Eli suddenly burst into a rage that shocked his team and their slugs. Seeing as how he scared his friends, Eli quickly excused himself and went to his room until dinner.

Eli ate Pronto's cooking like always, listening to his team's tale of valor against Blakk's men.

Trixie put fresh bowls of slug food and took to note that Eli's slugs still hadn't come out of Eli's room for supper. When she asked about it, Eli brushed it off and said that he would take the food to them when he himself was done with his food. Strange of him, but Eli did bring the food to his slugs as promised after he was finished eating.

Later in the week, Kord started to notice a lack of activity in Blakk Industries. Apparently, some of the Blakk lackeys had gone missing over the passed few days, mostly disappearing at night. Strange.

Though happy about not having to leave the house right in the middle of his favored reading or snack times, Pronto began to feel that something weird was happening with his friend, Eli. For one, the air felt heavier around him and the slugs seemed to be afraid of him. The slugs AFRAID of Eli Shane?! The most friendly-with-slugs person in all of Slug Terra. Impossible! Eli was like a slug whisperer. He could get any slug to trust him. Every slug in the Shane hideout behaved around and respected Eli. And now the slugs of the Shane gang were afraid of him. 'What was with that?' he wondered.

Trixie definitely noticed a new attitude in Eli; he was more flirty and often bugged her for attention. Even when she worked on her slugisodes, he never left her alone. Being adorned with affection by a cute guy wouldn't usually sound like a bad thing, especially not one like Eli Shane, who was normally selfless, heroic, and brave. This new Eli, however, seemed entirely vain, private, and proud. He would now keep to himself in his room, not speaking to anyone, and whenever he was asked to help with a slugisode outside in the day, he would blow them off, saying the 'It's too bright, it gives me a headache,' a lame excuse to avoid your friends. The worst part of it was that he didn't even TRY to look sorry, he just kept looking at the TV or reading a book. When did the Eli Shane she knew turn into a big jerk?

She got so suspicious of his behavior, she even thought that maybe he was Twist in disguise. But when she tried to find out with her camera during a night-time slugisode she had planned to reveal the trickster, what she saw wasn't Twist, but some sort of darker version of Eli. His reflection in the lens seemed transparent and in place of his blue eyes were glowing red orbs that reminded her too much of Dr. Blakk's ghouls. When she saw the beast in her camera, she quickly stopped the slugisode and told the others that her camera was acting weird. When everyone got back to the hideout, Trixie got to work to find out what caused her camera to reveal Eli like that. When nothing seemed to be wrong with her camera, she wondered if maybe the monster she saw through the lens was really the Eli that she saw as handsome as ever. Strange, but then again so was his suddenly selfish attitude.

On the night of the three week anniversary of the incident with the Dracule ghoul, Trixie suffered a nightmare she would never forget:

"_Trixie!"_

_She heard a familiar voice: Eli's._

_"Trixie," he called, "Help me!"_

_Trixie twisted and turned in a dark room, looking for her friend, who sounded scared and alone._

_"Eli?" she called to him, "Where are you?"_

_Trixie walked in a direction south of where she was when she started having the dream. The path she took lead her to a large pool of redness. It looked like Dr. Blakk's Dark Water, but it seemed to thick to be so when she ran her finger through it. When she felt the thickness and smelled it's stench, her heart hung in her chest as fear threatened to choke her. It was not Dark Water, but blood. Gallons upon gallons of blood, all swirling around something in the middle like a pond of water._

_When Trixie squinted her eyes to see what that something was, she thought she would stay frozen in place forever: It was Eli._

_"Eli?!" Trixie called him, "What are you doing in a pool of blood?! Get out of there!"_

_"I-I-I can't," Eli said as he shivered._

_"What do you mean you can't?! It's just blood, you can walk out! Hold on, I'll get you!"_

_"NO, DON'T!" Eli yelled, stopping Trixie from taking another step._

_Trixie then noticed that her friend wasn't wearing any clothes, though the blood covered him from only the hips down. She blushed and quickly went to look away._

_"Trixie," Eli called again, leading to Trixie trying to focus mainly on the upper half of the body instead of the lower. When she looked at him a second time, she noticed that there was blood dripping from his mouth over his chest and abs that he covered with his arms as he shivered in what must've been cold blood. At the sign of blood, she became distraught with worry._

_"Oh my, Eli!" wept Trixie, "What happened to you?! Who did this to you?!"_

_"He did," was all Eli said._

_Trixie became intrigued with who 'He' was, but her attention remained on Eli._

_"Trixie," he called to her, "You have to stop him! He's going to destroy Slug Terra and turn everyone into one of him. One of us!"_

_When Trixie finally noticed the fangs and the red eyes Eli had on his face, she backed away slightly._

_"He thinks he's trying to protect Slug Terra by making Blakk's men vanish," Eli continued, "But he's only going to feed on more and more people."_

_"W-What do you mean by 'feed'?"_

_"He's drinking blood, Trixie. The blood you see surround me is the blood of the people he's turned; of the men of Blakk's he's made disappear overnight for the passed two weeks. He's a Vampire, Trixie!"_

_"W-What's a Vampire?"_

_ "A monster that drinks blood," was all that Eli could tell her before she felt herself slipping away from him._

_ "What's happening?" Trixie asked as she tried to run back to him._

_ "He's on the hunt! He's trying to claim more victims! Stop him, quickly! You and the others are the only ones who can! Burpy and my slugs are in my room! Get them! The poor little guys have been abused for two weeks."_

_'Abused?'_

_"He's fed them, but he's never let them out or have fun. He's kept them cowering in my room all this time! When you find them, tell them how sorry I am for all their torment!"_

_The blood levels began to rise over Eli's body, sailing passed his hips to over his chest and arms. Trixie reached out to him, trying to help him, but it was no use; she was too far away at that point._

_"Trixie," Eli said with a tear in his red eye, "I'm so sorry for the way I treated you and the others. Please! Stop him! Stop...me!"_

_And with that, Eli was completely under the surface of the blood. Trixie tried to swim for him, but the air picked her up and carried her up above the pond of blood that began to look like a puddle until it was consumed by the darkness._

When Pronto and Kord heard a girl screaming, they rushed over to Trixie's room as fast as lightning.

"Trixie?!" Kord asked as he burst into the room with Pronto covering his eyes incase Trixie was indecent, "What happened?!"

Trixie woke up in a cold sweat from her nightmare. Remembering what Eli said, she got up from under her sheets and bound herself passed the two boys towards Eli's room. Lately, with Eli's strange behavior, he had forbidden anyone to enter, but Trixie figured, _I DID get special permission, I guess._

Upon her entry, Trixie looked over to find that Eli's bed was empty and that his window was open: Eli snuck out in the middle of the night.

As soon as the others joined her, they too became dismayed at the scene that their leader was gone.

Trixie instantly began searching for Burpy and the other slugs, Kord and Pronto wondering if she had suddenly became insane.

"Burpy?!" she called to him, "Banger?! Spinner?! Joules?!"

Hearing a chirp, Trixie, Kord, and Pronto all looked in the direction of the open window to find Burpy in a slug shell with books covering the top. The poor little thing looked frail and weak.

When Trixie lifted the heavy books off of the shell, Burpy jumped up to her in gratitude. Trixie returned the hug she was given when Burpy jumped up to her shoulder and chirped for the other slugs to come out.

One by one, every one of Eli's slugs slowly came out of their hiding places and embraced the Shane gang.

"H-Hey!" Pronto yelled, "No touching the Molenoid, slugs!"

"Pronto," Kord told him, "Look at them! They look terrible! You'd figured Eli would take a lot better care of them than this!"

"Not with the way he's been acting lately!" Pronto reminded him.

Burpy dropped his head in sadness after Pronto said that, earning Trixie's sympathies.

Trixie took the little Infurnus in her hands and said to him what Eli told her to in her dream, "Eli says that he's sorry for what he did to you, Burpy. To all of you!"

Burpy, the slugs, and the boys of the Shane gang all looked at the only girl with confusion as to how she would know that.

"I'll explain on the way," she answered their looks, "Right now, we have to find Eli!"

"Why, Trix?" Kord asked her.

"He's in trouble!" she answered him as she exited the room with Burpy on her shoulder, "He's been acting weird for a reason. We need to save him."

As Trixie grabbed her blaster and slugs, she led everyone to the mecha beasts. Together, they all rode with each member of the Shane gang carrying their own slugs plus a third of Eli's whole arsenal. Somehow, Trixie knew exactly where Eli was and that only filled her with more fear and anxiety than ever. The Eli in her dream spoke of how he was 'on the hunt' for Blakk's minions. Now after two weeks, it seemed that Eli was aiming for the center of the evil in Slug Terra; The home of the number one slug-hating, ghoul-making, most despicable man in all of Slug Terra: Blakk Citadel.


	4. Chapter 3

An old man of middle 40's woke up with a start at the sounds of screaming from outside his bedroom window. He quickly rushed to his window sill to see what the fuss was about, but when he opened the window, the barren wasteland that was his backyard was as creepingly quiet as ever; nothing seemed out of place. So the man of pale skin and greedy green eyes closed his window back up and went to return to the covers of his bed for the rest of the night.

This man was thought of as a brute and a villain throughout all of Slug Terra. What was wrong with him? Was trying to conquer all of Slug Terra and turn everyone of it's worthless and weak slugs into more ideal little monsters called ghouls really too much for anyone to understand? He was glad that there were some people that actually agreed with him, even if it was only because he was as rich and powerful as he was. They were loyal to him to a fault. He didn't really care. As long as they knew their place, he would show them mercy on his part. And to anyone who dared to get in the way of his goals were sure to perish for it, like a little hero named Eli Shane.

Goodness, was he such a pain! So sweet and innocent and good and kind! Ugh, it made him sick to his stomach. Eli was everything his father, Will Shane, ever was. A goody two-shoes who just loved to pester in the man's plans. Thankfully, the father had already been taken care of, so the man didn't have to worry about a Father-and-son tag team against him. Will Shane was enough a rival as he used to be, but with Eli at his side, the two would be an unstoppable force of good. Again, good thing the father was gone and far out of the man's troubles. If only his son could follow, but his annoying friends, the Shane gang, have protected him like guard hounds. It was sickening! To see a gang so devoted to each other; a gang so at-home with one another; so close that NOTHING could ever hope to come between them! Bleech!

Dr. Blakk was in the middle of his second attempt of sleep when another scream came from outside, this one more blood-curdling!

"CAN NO ONE TAKE CARE OF THAT?!" Dr. Blakk got impatient as he grabbed his blaster and a couple of his ghouls and headed to where the screams were coming from. Along the way, he ran into his apprentice, Twist, and the Hooligang.

The Hooligang had offered to make up for their past failure time-and-again, not ever leaving him alone about it. Dr. Blakk accepted their offer and gave them ghouls. Not because they wouldn't stop bugging him, but because he was running short on men for some reason. Shortly after one battle with the Shane gang, the number of his men began to dwindle, starting from the Western to the Eastern parts of Blakk Industries that were spanned across Slug Terra. It was a small number at first; two to three men each night. Then, the number grew to about 7 men missing per night and ever more. Dr. Blakk didn't know what was going on, but he knew that he didn't like it in the least.

"Dr. Blakk," Billy started his question, "What's going on?"

"We heard screaming from outside our windows," the girl punk named Shorty reported.

"Is there something outside?" the boy named Glasses asked in fear. What a wimp!

All while the Hooligang were so busy trying to find out what was going on, Twist couldn't help but look at his master in sheer worry. He, too, had been hearing of the disappearances in Blakk's army of ghoul-slingers and had tried to find out the cause. Everywhere there was a reported disappearance, Twist and Loki have investigated the scenes where the men had disappeared during the night. So far, whoever took the men made a clean getaway with them. Not a single trace was found in any of the investigations. It was as if whoever did the crime didn't want to be discovered just yet.

But now, the criminal was making his mark. Finally, they were going to find out just who would make all of Blakk's men disappear.

Everyone was just on their way out the door when Diablos Nacho and Maurice soon joined them with disturbing news.

"Almost all of our outside guards are gone, Dr. Blakk," Maurice said aloud, alarming the youngest of the group of seven.

"How many are left?" Blakk asked them, unfazed.

"A little more than 30," Diablos answered him until five more screams were heard off outside, "Make that a little less."

At the sign of the sudden number drop, Blakk couldn't take anymore of this. He simply barged the door wide open as everyone got their blasters out and ready.

The outside became quiet upon the 'BOOM' of the doors as they hit the walls outside. Blakk looked towards every corner as he armed his blaster with his first ghoul. Slowly walking down the steps towards the hard cavern floor, Dr. Blakk surveyed the scene with hawk-like eyes, searching for the intruder who dared attack him in his home. He just KNEW that the perpetrator was out there somewhere.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Blakk demanded in a high voice, "SHOW YOURSELF!"

Twist looked all around in the shadows for the jerk when he noticed a dark figure coming closer but only enough to keep his body shrouded in darkness. They only thing that Twist and the others could see of the man was the pair of burning-red eyes that struck even the cold-hearted Dr. Blakk in fear.

The weird thing was that the figure didn't look like a man, more like a boy of Twist and the member's of the Hooligang's age. He was too tall to be a molenoid and too small and scrawny to be any cave troll. Another thing about the boy was that there was something sparkling in his mouth: A pair of extra-long canine teeth, almost fangs like a ghoul's.

As Twist shivered a bit from the signs of the fangs, Dr. Blakk continued to interrogate the boy with his blaster armed and ready to shoot with a Grimmstone ghoul.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Dr. Blakk demanded again, "Why have you come here?"

"What do you think I'm here for, Blakk?" a familiar voice sounded, "To rid Slug Terra of you!"

As the figure revealed himself from the comfort of his shadows, all jaws dropped in shock.

"Eli?!" Twist asked, amazed.

"Shane?!" Billy continued for him, "What are YOU doing here?!"

"What other reason, Billy?" Eli answered him, "I didn't spend the last two weeks making Blakk's men vanish to just stop and NOT take care of the corruption of Slug Terra's good magic at it's source."

Everyone stared at Eli in full disbelief upon his confession. How could Eli Shane make those men disappear without a trace? And why would he EVER do such a thing to begin with.

"YOU?!" Billy shared his amazement, "YOU'VE been making Dr. Blakk's men disappear?!"

"Who did you expect, Billy?" Eli said tauntingly, "The Ice Ogres?!"

As Eli laughed menacingly, the normal villains began to notice more about the boy. He seemed different somehow...darker...scarier...and even colder than Dr. Blakk himself. But that's not the Eli Shane they remember; that's not the hero they grew to despise with all their greedy and hateful souls. No, THIS Eli Shane was beyond different from that noble hero. Almost his exact opposite. For one thing, he didn't have any slugs with him.

"Where's Burpy?" Twist dared to ask, "Where are your slugs?"

"At home, Twist," the boy answered him, "I didn't want them to slow me down."

The slugs? Slow him DOWN?! Who was this guy?! And what in slug's name did he do with the REAL Eli Shane?

"It's just that you take your slugs everywhere with you," Twist continued, "I've never seen you without them before."

"Yeah, well, I realized that Dr. Blakk was right about slugs after all," Eli actually said out loud, "They would only hinder me of my true abilities. It's best if I just leave them for someone else to use."

If the fact that Eli was the one who was making Blakk's men disappear wasn't shocking enough, this confession totally stumped the villains of Blakk Industries. Even Nacho couldn't contain his shock any longer as he let his jaw drop down to the floor underneath his feet. No Shane, especially NOT Eli Shane, would EVER say such a thing about their slugs, nor would they ever agree with their enemies unless it was something both could agree upon. He was saying that his slugs were just mere toys to him now, and meant to be thrown away like such. Twist didn't know if whether to be angry with him now or to remain shocked.

All of a sudden, a soldier in torn clothes and covered in blood came out from behind a corner east of Blakk and colleges. Everyone turned their heads to see the man holding a blaster at Eli shakingly, mumbling repeatedly, "M-M-Monster! MONSTER!"

Eli tsked and shook his head slightly, "Children! Always wanting to leave a mess for the parent to clean up."

The man heard the words and ran to attack the boy.

Blakk pulled out his hand to stop the soldier before he got close to Eli, feeling that something horrible was about to happen.

"Oh well," Eli said, licking his white fangs, "I guess I'll just have to take care of it. I mean what else can I do? Leave the mess just lying around?"

The man stopped at a distance and fired a Grimmstone ghoul at the new Eli. What happened next made everyone SEE what kind of a monster Eli Shane had become.

The Grimmstone aimed to punch the boy in the face, but it was blocked strongly by Eli as he held out his right arm upon embrace. He managed to stop a Grimmstone punch dead-on upon impact and retain the same position as before the ghoul was fired at 100 miles per hour. As soon as the ghoul transformed back it's tiny self, Eli dropped it and let the slug land on its foot. When it was on the ground, the Grimmstone hopped away in haste to get away from the new beast.

At the sign of Eli's new strength, the soldier quickly turned coward and tried to run away. Too bad for him, he wasn't fast enough.

As fast as anything, Eli managed to catch his victim in his hands and bite deep into the man's neck, taking in his juices like a spider with a fly.

From the sight of it, everyone reacted: Shorty screamed and held her hand over her mouth to not sound too loud and attract Eli's attention. Maurice and Glasses took the liberty to vomit over the side of the stairs from the sickening of the scene. The trio of Diabos Nacho, Dr. Blakk, and Twist were just all staring at Eli as he drank the life out of the poor soldier that got too close.

When Eli was done draining the blood from the man's body, he let the body drop to the floor and tried to wipe the blood from his lips, licking up any remaining on his fingers.

"MY GOD!" Dr. Blakk finally said after such a disturbing event.

From the scene of Eli drinking blood, Billy soon became lightheaded and fainted in Twist's arms.

"BILLY!" Twist called him to wake him up to no avail.

Eli just laughed at the pathetic boy as his friends surrounded him. Blakk looked from Billy to Eli as this happened, stooped as he looked upon a brand new Eli that he never thought he'd fear.

When Eli stopped laughing at the villains, he glared his red eyes in their directions, flashed his bloody fangs, and prepped himself to pounce. "Now," he said darkly, "IT'S TIME TO END THIS! FOR SLUG TERRA!"

"ELI!" Everyone froze as they looked towards the direction of the shout; towards the Shane gang, Eli's gang, as they were coming fast from the North.

Eli quickly hid the fangs and red eyes as his beautiful Trixie Sting came into his sights. He smiled innocently as his team approached him.

"Trixie!" Eli called her, "My flower! What are you doing here?"

As Trixie and the Shane gang went to stop and look upon the scene in front of them, their eyes stopped towards the body of a man drained of blood. Shocked of what they saw, they drew their blasters out, armed with their slugs of choice, and aimed roughly at their own leader.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Eli pretended to not know what was going on, "What are you doing?! I'm one of YOU, remember?! Stop being silly and put those blasters down!"

"SAVE IT, YOU!" Kord commanded, "We already know the story! You're NOT Eli!"

The band of villains looked from the Shane gang to Eli in confusional shock as to what was going on.

Trixie slowly approached the Shane with Burpy growling on her shoulder and her blaster at the ready, "Eli-the REAL Eli-told me WHAT you are and what you're going to do. And WE'RE here to stop you!"

Eli looked at them surprisingly, then turned to a little snicker, "So my WEAKLING side told you about little me, did he?! Well, then I guess I'll just have to take care of him when I see him next time."

As Eli bore his white fangs and red eyes at his old friends, the Shane gang backed away slightly to avoid his powerful glance.

As it pained them to look, the Shane gang kept aiming their blasters straight at their leader and best friend. They couldn't believe that this was happening, of all of them, no one would ever expect a Shane like Eli to betray his Shane gang by becoming a monster.

"So, tell me," Eli said to them, "What reason do you have that I shouldn't rid Slug Terra of these people?"

"Eli told me in my dream," Trixie tried to say aloud, but almost couldn't bare to say in front of the vampire for who's skin he wore, "That you were going to feed on more than just Blakk. He said that after you were done with him, you'd just feed on more people..."

The monster laughed at the girl who couldn't get two words out without shaking. "Obviously, he was just lying to you!" the boy monster said to the girl as she grew into a fury from his choice of words.

"ELI WOULD **NEVER** LIE TO ME!" Trixie shouted in full rage, "He told me to stop you himself!"

Before she could blink, the monster known as Eli wrapped his arms around her body affectionately, holding her like a serpent as he circled to behind her with arms holding her with passion.

"Don't you LIKE me more this way, Trixie?" the monster asked as he held her face in his hand to face him, "I can be MUCH more romantic and loving in ways my old self wasn't. I can hold you in these arms of his forever, not letting ANYONE dare take you away or harm you."

The monster turned the girl around to face him as he finished, "These lips of mine can be so much sweeter on yours...once I make you mine. Isn't that what you want Trixie? Your beloved Eli holding you close and kissing you like you deserve? I can give you all that...and more!"

Not wanting the vampire Eli to hurt his friend, Burpy lit himself in flames and leapt into the air, threatening Eli to stay away from the girl.

Eli backed away from the Infurnus as soon as it had the nerve to attack him. "I would have thought you'd be the least bit grateful for having me fed you and your brothers, you little-" he growled at his ex-buddy, who just growled back at him and then turned to see to Trixie.

Trixie was trying to come with a response to the shock of that experience when Burpy looked at her and her blushing cheeks. Trixie never felt so aroused in all her life. Seeing the charm in his eyes stopped Trixie's train of thought full-throttle, silencing her words in her mind and making her lose sight of everything around her. Feeling the grip of Eli's strong body made her heart flutter in her chest like no other could before. For once in her life, Trixie thought of herself as silent. The beast inside her friend was right; she DID want Eli's heart to be hers. For the longest time, she has been feeling strong emotions for him that she couldn't describe until that moment. She wanted to know the feeling of being in his warm arms, being accepted in his embrace and knowing the sweet taste of his lips. But at the same time of the arousement, Trixie felt disgusted with him. She may have wanted to be in Eli's arms in a loving manner, but this creature was NOT the Eli Shane she wanted to be with. She wanted THAT Eli; the boy in front of her was just a creep in his skin.

Coming back from the shock, she aimed her blaster right between Eli's eyes, leading the others to do the same.

The Shane Vampire to laugh at their fruitless efforts.

The slugs growled within their capsules as did the team that held them.

When the laughing stopped, Eli said to them all, "Fine! If you are willing to betray me and protect these people, then I guess I'll have no other choice but to make my weaker self's words true. I WILL feed upon the people of Slug Terra-upon you, my friends-if it means that I can rid Slug Terra of THAT monster!"

Eli said this as he pointed to Dr. Blakk, just in time for Billy to wake up from his fainting spell.

"Yeah, right!" Kord said to him, "You and what army, Eli?! There's three of us, with an army of slugs, and only one of you!"

Eli smiled grimily at the Cave Troll, "I'm SO glad you asked, Kord."

Eli, then, let out an ear-piercing whistle that sounded throughout the whole cavern, causing everyone to cover their ears-human, Cave Troll, Molenoid, Dark Bain, and slug.

When the whistle was sound and all was silent again, Eli pointed up to the ceiling and around the citadel, "I'd count the numbers again if I were you, Kord."

As they looked on with horror, the Shane gang and Blakk industries crew saw large numbers of former Blakk soldiers now vampires all snaring their fangs at them. The man Eli had bitten and drain of his blood prior to the Shane gang's arrival, even began to stand and show his sharp white teeth at his former boss.

Sooner than the servant of Eli could stand, he was knocked out by Trixie's Rammstone slug. Kord and Pronto fired Stinky and Bludgeon to help keep the vampires at bay on both sides of the Blakk crew.

"RUN!" Trixie ordered.

"Quickly!" Pronto added, "This way!"

Despite all reasons not to do as they were told, the Blakk crew ran towards the Shane gang in hopes of escaping from the Shane and his army of vampires. But before they could all get to safety, Eli seemed to move like mist, seeping speedily through the crew and snatching up one of their own: Glasses.

"GLASSES!" Shorty shouted after him.

Everyone turned to see Eli holding Glasses by the arm in an extra-tight grip to keep him in place as the newest vampire in the army stepped forward.

"I hope you don't mind, Billy, if I barrow one of your gang members," Eli said with a sliver in his voice, "But my newest recruit just woke up and I know he's just bound to be starving for a fresh meal."

"Why not take one of us then?" Maurice asked, pointing to the stronger, much more healthier-looking of the bunch, "Or Dr. Blakk? Didn't you say you wanted him?"

"I'll excuse you for that interesting choice of words for now, Maurice," Dr. Blakk scolded him and then turned back to Eli, "But why DID you not take me? You said so yourself, Shane, you wanted to rid Slug Terra of me."

"True, but I'm saving you for me," Eli said, then gave Glasses over to the new vampire, "I want to be the one who drains you dry of all your blood, Blakk."

As the vampire drank away Glasses's life force, Shorty was left to look away in the comfort of Twist's arms while Billy looked upon the new Shane in rage.

"You'll NEVER get away with this, Eli Shane," Billy shouted out at him.

"Don't call me Eli anymore, Billy," the monster instructed him, "I'm a higher form from that name now. Call me...Drac! And I'm going to be kind to you all and give you a 10 second head start in running away."

"10 seconds?!" Pronto screamed out loud in shock.

As both the Shane gang and the Blakk crew looked upon the monster calling himself "Drac", they noticed his army gathering behind him with a vampirized Glasses joining their ranks. Getting ready to run, the Shane gang quickly hopped onto their mecha beasts with the Blakk crew riding in the back of each: Twist and Maurice riding behind Kord on Wyatt, Shorty and Billy riding behind Pronto on Fernando, and Dr. Blakk riding behind Trixie on Boomer. As Drac began his slow countdown, deep inside of him Eli saw and heard what was going on, and prayed that his friends and enemies could only get away from him and Drac and into safety.

"10...9...8...7," Drac was counting down the seconds as the Shane gang sped away as fast as they could, all the while Drac keeping an eye on the panther mecha and her riders, "6...5...4...3...2...1! GO!"

And with the signal from their master, the vampire army advanced, beating the speed record of those mechas by a minute.

_And so the hunt begins,_ Drac thought to himself as he saw the Shane gang and Blakk crew escape into the shadows with the army following close behind them.


End file.
